


EXO Back Next Door: Episode 3

by ellieq_e



Series: Exo Back Next Door [3]
Category: EXO (Band), 우리 옆집에 EXO 가 산다 | EXO Next Door
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-21 05:48:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellieq_e/pseuds/ellieq_e
Summary: EXO is back in town and Ji Yeon Hee has been reunited with her childhood love Park Chanyeol --everything should be great. And yet...she can't seem to shake from her mind that forlorn pair of eyes of the boy who won't speak to her.





	1. Balcony

_Sulking eyes, wordless stare._  

As she lay in bed that Saturday morning, Ji still couldn’t quite shake from her mind the image of the sad-looking D.O. from the night before. At Exo’s welcome home pizza party last night, she had had such a great time, reuniting with her old friends from the band and her long-lost first love Park Chanyeol. His eyes, his embrace, his reassurance that he hadn’t forgotten about her after all this time, and the way they had all welcomed her back into their fold again…It all should have been perfect.

And yet, somehow, it wasn’t. No, that one moment at the end of the night had shattered it all, when the normally oh-so-cheerful and friendly D.O. had looked at her with such a deep sadness mixed with betrayal in his eyes that she had had half a mind to stop him right then and there to ask him about it. And she would have done it, too, of course, if he hadn’t just brushed right past her without saying a word.

 _He’s normally so cheerful_ , Ji thought to herself, trying to make sense of the situation. _But yesterday, he wouldn’t even speak to me_.

 _It must be some sort of personal conflict, then_ , she decided, settling on the most likely of all the possibilities she had run through her head. _Or else he wouldn’t have greeted me along with everyone else when they first arrived in the kitchen_.

So the only question now was, what? What could this mysterious conflict be that had occurred between herself D.O., enough to drive such an uncomfortable wedge between her and her formerly good friend? She ferociously wracked through her brain, trying to think of any incident or occurrence since the last time she had seen him that could have deeply offended him or hurt him in some way. She drew up a blank.

 _Oh, what should I do? What should I do?_ She moaned, trying to figure out the best possible way to go about finding out what his grievance with her was without having him find out that she was trying to find it out.

Immediately, she thought of going to Chanyeol, but she decided against it instantly. She didn’t want to go about involving him in her personal conflict with his band mate. If it even was that. No, she would have to settle this one on her own. 

Ughh. Ji buried her head in her pillow. The boys had only just moved back in the day before, and there was already drama a-brewing. Groaning, she reluctantly pulled herself out of bed. There really was no other choice, was there? She would have to go over there and talk to him herself.

…

“Hello? D.O.?” Ji called softly as she raised a hand to knock on the door that Exo’s lead singer shared with the band’s leader, Suho. “D.O.” she called again, trying to keep herself from waking all the flat’s residents. The less people who knew about whatever was going on between her and D.O., the better.

Ugh. Ji winced as she tried again. She really, _really_ did not want to have to knock on that door. Maybe if she just sat on the couch and waited for him to wake up instead…

Suddenly, a flash of oatmeal cashmere caught her eye, as a figure she hadn’t noticed when she’d entered the apartment shifted his position from where he was on the balcony.

 _Oh, thank goodness!_ She cried internally, thanking her luck that the very boy she had come looking for also happened to be the first one in the house to get up.

“Hey, D.O.!” she called as she joined him on the balcony, not wanting to scare him as she approached him from behind.

Without acknowledging her, he kept on staring straight ahead at the house on the street across from them, as if the chipped and dilapidating terracotta roof tiles over there and the overgrown box of gardenias in the window were the most interesting things he had ever seen.

“Umm, hello? D.O.?” Ji tried again, waving her hand in front of his face when he didn’t respond to her initial greeting. Humph. A little puff of indigence built up in her chest at being so blatantly ignored by someone she had thought was her friend.

“Hey, D.O., did I do something to upset you or something?” she blurted out, instantly regretting it when he turned to look at her. Under his emotionless, searching gaze, she felt her cheeks flame up like jalapeño peppers.

“Well? So?” she asked again defiantly, mildly embarrassed but refusing to back down.

Hmmm. D.O. paused to look at her, trying to maintain his emotionless guise before the face of the girl who had unknowingly broken his heart. He almost reached a hand up to graze her flaming red cheeks, a Yeon-hee original, but clenched his fist to stop himself. He had already lost chance. She was happy with Chanyeol, now. 

Well…

“Are you happy with Chanyeol?” he asked her suddenly, replicating her blurt of pent-up emotion with one of his own.

Umm, what? Ji was confused. “Yes, I think so,” she answered, a look of blatant confusion on her face.

“Never mind,” he shook his head. “I’m not mad at you. Forget I said anything.” He turned to head back inside, but stopped at the threshold of the sliding glass door, lingering for a moment longer.

“We’re friends, right Ji?” he asked her without turning around.

“Yes, of course,” Ji responded, still a bit taken aback by his earlier question.

“Then, please, call me Kyung-soo,” he said softly, his voice straining with emotion.

Behind him, Ji nodded imperceptibly, yet he somehow seemed to sense it.

Nodding, he headed back inside.


	2. Second Date

When Chanyeol found Ji, she was still standing outside on the balcony, having watched the sky turn from a muted golden yellow to a bright and dazzling blue. Seeming lost in her thoughts, she was now gazing down out at the peaceful road of the neighborhood below. Quietly, he came to join her, snaking his arms around her waist.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he murmured into her ear, running his hands up and down along the soft pink fabric covering her skin. Mmmm. Oh how he’d missed her soft touch and the sweet, sweet smell of her hair. He inhaled, breathing it in and pressing his cheek up against the top of her messy bun.

“It’s kind of early for a visit, don’t you think?” he asked, blinking his slightly puffy morning eyes a few times as he adjusted to the bright light of the morning sun.

“You know, it’s weird hearing that come from you,” she answered, turning around and smiling at him as she let thoughts of her earlier conversation with D.O. fall to the wayside. “What happened to that early-rising super star songwriter who used to get up before 9 am every morning to command me to come to work?” she countered, running her fingers through his tousled hair.

“Well, even super star songwriters have to sleep sometimes,” he replied, bending his head lower into her touch. “And yesterday just happens to be the day I reunited with my first ever love for the first time in six months. It’s not so easy to fall asleep after all that, you know,” he teased her, waggling his eyebrows. Oh, how nice it felt to waggle his eyebrows at her and flirt with her and touch her skin after all this time away. He never wanted to let her go again.

Ji blushed, swatting away his flattery. “Ok, Ok, sometimes flattery will get you everything,” she conceded. “So, mister super star rock star, what do you want for breakfast today?” she asked, making to worm out of his embrace and head to the kitchen. Out on the balcony for all this time, she had felt her stomach begin to grumble a little, and now that he was awake, too, she thought she might as well make him some breakfast while she was at it.

 “Well actually,” Chanyeol said, holding onto her tight. “I had some other plans in mind.”

…

“How’s this for our second ever date?” Chanyeol asked, removing his hands from Ji’s eyes so she could see the quaint little dim sum restaurant he had brought her to. In the magically-lit breakfast café, they would easily be able to sip on their bubble tea, share their bowl of bibimbap, and, of course, as was Ji’s personal favorite, nibble on an assortment of miniature rice cakes for desert. Best of all, they could watch the passing passerby through tinted windows without them looking in, and the quiet neighborhood it was situated in meant less of an opportunity for crazed fans to spot and recognize one of their favorite idols on his peaceful day out.

Chanyeol smiled to himself, very pleased that he had found out about this place through Sehun and his mysterious friendship with Ji’s brother. As soon as he had heard about this place, he had known that it would be perfect for Ji.

“So, do you like it?” he asked eagerly as he pulled out a chair for his lady.

Ji nodded, speechless as she looked around at the beautiful décor, so simplistic in a classic and comfy mom-and-pop shop style yet so magical with the effervescent strings of fairy light hanging from the ceiling and the gauzy pieces of chiffon fabric decorating the walls.

She didn’t say “I love it” out loud, but from her wide-eyed stares-turned bashful blushes, she more than implied it.

“So, my love, what would you like to eat?” Chanyeol looked at her fondly, smiling wide with both his mouth and his eyes.

“Umm, well,” Ji skimmed the menu, tentatively trying to pick something good and healthy, but slowly bypassing the section on kimchi and porridge, and then the section on eggs and breakfast meats. Naturally, she settled on the deserts section, and she looked up shyly.

“Rice cakes look good,” she said.

And at that, Chanyeol couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh, reaching up to cover his face to keep his teeth from showing. Smiling at the gorgeously beautiful girl before him on this gorgeously beautiful day, he couldn’t but think how so very, very lucky he was to be where he happened to be. His heart nearly throbbed out of his chest as he watched Ji’s cheeks turn their familiar tint of red, but she stayed firm with her choice and puffed her lips out defiantly.

 _I don’t think I’ve ever loved you more_ , he thought. 

In that moment, his life was absolute perfection.

…

“That was. Absolute. Perfection,” Ji Yeon-hee leaned back in her seat as she patted her full stomach. Across from her, Chanyeol did the same. “I don’t think I can take a single bite more,” she said, leaning her head back in exhaustion.

At first, she hadn’t planned on eating to this extent, the nagging voice of her mother and the looming thought of Korean societal norms in the back of her head reminding her that it wasn’t the most ladylike thing in the world to stuff yourself in front of the boy you were dating. But from the moment her lips had touched that squishy green pastry, she had been a goner. There was nothing that could break her resolve like rice cakes, and it didn’t help that Mama Lee’s rice cakes were some of the best around town.

“Best. Second. Date. Ever,” she smiled at Chanyeol over the remains of their hearty meal and the pooch of her full belly.

Her easygoing boyfriend smiled back at her with a twinkle in his eye, reaching over the table to take her hand. “After this, I have even more fun planned,” he told her, smiling widely again. “But, of course, we should take some time to rest first,” he leaned back again as they shared a laugh full of peace, warmth, and contentment.

Lazily looking around, Chanyeol raised a hand to flag down the waitress for their check, but before he could do so, a solid figure appeared in his way. Both he and Ji looked up, surprised at the dark shadow that was now blocking the sun they had just been oh-so-gloriously basking in.

Ji traced her eyes up a pair of long, svelte legs and a slender waist, up a professional-looking button-up blouse and a pair of black pointy cat-eye glasses. The woman standing before them held an official-looking clipboard in hand, and as she snapped her fingers sharply, a short, timid-looking assistant scurried over from behind her holding a portable high-resolution black Nikon camera in hand. 

Taking the instantly-printed photo in hand, she shook it dry a few times before holding it up in front of their faces.

“Well, well, look what we have here. If it isn’t Park Chanyeol from Exo,” she said, curling her lips up into a shiny, ruby red smile.

 


End file.
